Apparatus for manufacturing pig-iron



(No Model.)

C. P. WILLIAMSON. i APPARATUS FOR MANUFAOTURING PIG IRON.

Patented Apr. 23, 1895.

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I TH: NORRIS PETERS co. mou-anno.. WASHINGTON. u. c`

Ummah STATES PAT N'r Ostren@ CHARLES P. WILLIAMSON, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PlG-IRON.

SPEIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.537,880,datedApr1 23, 1895.

Application filed September 6, 1893. Renewed February 21, 1895. Serial No. 539,292. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES P. WILLIAM- SON, of Birmingham, in the eounty of Jeffer and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in apparatus for the manufacture of pig iron, and it consists in a furnace having a series of combustion chambers therein, one located above another, obstructing devices located between these combustion chambers, and means for supplying gases in suitable quantities to each of the several chambers for deoxidizing and smelting the ore.

It further consists in certain other features of Construction and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my improved apparatus, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section online 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a detail view. p

After the proportions of ore and flux, or ores,'cinder and flux, shall have been (letermined and measured by' weight or otherwise, they will be fed. together into the hopper of a breaker or crusher A, which nay be of any preferred form of Construction and preferably so disposed that its top will be on a level or approxinately on a level with the floor,so that the material can be readily deposited therein, from the carts. The fiux employed may be of limestone, oyster shells orother Inaterial containing lime and sometimes it happens that the material under treatment is selffiuxing when of course no additional fiux is necessary. The material (combined ore and fiux, or ore, cinder and flux) Willbe reduced by the breaker to a proper size to be passed between rolls and will be conveyed from the breaker by a chute a, to a conveyer A', by which it will be elevated and deposited into the hopper b over crushing rolls B. The crushing rolls and the apparatus for driving them may be of any preferred form of oonstruction. The material will thus be reduced to a fineness best suited to the further process of drying andmixing and will be conveyed from 'the crushing rolls by a chute c to a drier and u mixer D of any desired form of Construction, which drier may be heated. by gas entering at d, the air for supporting the conbustion of said gas enter-ing at d'. i

After passing through the drier and mixer D, the material will be carried, by a conveyer E and deposited into the charging pipe or inlet f of my improved fur-hace F. As thematerial, after it passes through the drier, is very fine, I find it advantageous and advisable to inclose the conveyer E by a casing E', so as to confiue the material and prevent it from fillingthe air surrounding the apparatus.

When circumstances, or more Strictly speaking, the lay of the land where the apparatus is Situated, will permit, the material may be fed from the breaker, through the crushing rolls and drier to the furnace, by gravity, thus is provided with agate g whereby to regulate the amount of material fed into the furnace, so as to insure a continuous supply of 'material commensurate to the capacity of the furnace without clogging or massing therein. The same result may be accomplished, if desired, by regulating the amount of material deposited into the breaker.

The ore, in its passage through the f urnace will meet the burning fuel and be melted before it reaches the bottom thereof. this result the material will be retarded in its passage through the furnace,-for the accomplishment of which purpose, the furnace may be constructed in' a manner which Will now be explained.

The crucible h of the furnace, into which the material finds its way after having been To insure melted, is preferably made circular in cross of the furnace is made practically rectangu- IOO larin cross section, the ends only of said rectangular portion being slightlycurved in conformity with the diametrically opposite walis of the furnace. i

The furnace is divided into a nunber of levels or zones, at each of which, retarding and fuel supply devices are located. In constructing the retarding devices, theinner, diametrically oppcsite walls of the furnace are made with elongated grooves or recesses j, at each levelor zone, so as to produce ledgesj' for the support of blocks or bridges of ret'raetory material G,-a series of such blocksor bridges being located at each zone and the blocks or bridgesof each series being spaced a distance apart preferably somewhat less than the width of said blocks or bridges,- which latter are maintained a proper distance apart by suitable filling or spacing pieces inserted in the recesses or grooves j. The wall of the furnace, at the end of each series of blocks or bridges, is made with a removable section k, whereby access may be had to the interier of the furnace to repair or renew the blocks or bridges, the operator standing, for

this purpose, on a platform Ic' projecting from the furnace, (one at each level or zone,) to which platforms access may be had by a ladder or by a stairway built adjacent to the furnace. In order to render the renovable sections k of the furnace wall accessible, the metallic shell or casing 'will be cut away in alignnent therewith, and the opening in the shell or casing thus produced, will be normally closed by means of a plate Zbolted thereto or to a suitable frame or casing. The upper portion of said plate l is made with an opening 'm adapted to align with an opening m' in the wall of the furnace above each series ot' blocks or bridges, through which openings access may be had to the interier of the furnace for a suitable instrument whereby to clear material from said blocks or bridges when they become clogged or the furnace refuses to properly operate from other causes. The opening m in the plate Z will be normally closed by a gate or door n, provided with a peep hole o, through which the attendant can observe the working of the furnace.

In arranging the retarding devices, the blocks or bridges of one series will be arranged over the spaces between those of the next series beneath, and the blocks or bridges being slightly wider than the width of the spaces between them, it will be seen that the material escaping from one block or bridge will fall directly upon a block or bridge ot' the next lower series.

From the Construction described it will be observed that the material upon being fed into the upper end of the furnace first drops upon and through the upper set of bars or bridges, more or less accumulating in pyramidal piles upon the blocks or bridges at first and then dropping off as the accumulation becomes eXcessive,thus showeringdown through the combustion chamber immediately below until it reaches the next obstruction in the form of the next set of blocks or bridges when the material is natu'rally retarded again as the second set of bars is preferably arranged to 'alternate with the uppermost set. It then drops again as before to the nextset below and so on, always showering in small disintegrated lumps through the several chambers, the purpose of this being to preventthe material accumulating in large masses and the better to eXpose the individual particles to the action of the gases and the burning fuel in each of the several chambers. The quantity ot' fuel or gas is regulated for each chamber as required to effect the desired results, the action of course being to deoxidize the material in the upper chambers and to fuse it in the lower ones. The gases evolved from the smelting which takes place in the lower chambers assists in the deoxidizing and as this constitutes a material 'portion ot' the gas used, it is left with the operator to turn on a greater or less su pply of gas in the chambers above, as required to effectually treat the ore in its descent.

In snpplying the furnace with heat 1 prefer to employ gas as a fuel, which will be introduced, together with the necessary supply of air, into each combustion chamberp and in the upper part of the crucible below the bottom series of bridges, which space is also, in efitect, a combustion chamber, the same as the spaces between the several series of bridges. With the ends of each combustion chamber, gas inlet pipes q communicate, and are adapted to direct the gas therein in a diagonal direction, the gas inlet pipe at one end of a combustion chamber being in line with the gas inlet pipe at the other end. The air inlet pipes r are arranged in the same manner, so that the gas and air willhave a tendency to flow diagonally across the chamber, at different angles, the air and gas combining practically in the center of the chamber, where combustion will take place.

The gaseous fuel may be produced and conveyed to the furnace in any suitable manner and the same gas may be employed to heat the drier and mixer, but in the latter case, it may be found to advantage from an econon1ical point ot View, to utilize the unburned gases which may escape from the furnace and for this purpose a pipe s may be made to communicate with the upper portion of the furnace in proximity to the stack and adapted to convey the escaping gas to the drier and mixer.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A furnace consisting of an outer wall constructed to receive ore at the upper end, said furnace divided into a series of-superimposed combustion chambers, bridges located between these chambers, said bridges having spaces between them, the bridges adapted to obstruct and retard the descending ore where* IOO IIO

&537,880

bridges to remove or repair them, the shell or casing being cut away in align ment With said renovable section of the wall and a plate adapted to normally close said cut away portion, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- 20 ing witnesses. i

CHARLES P. WILLIAMSON,

witnesses: i 4

R. S. FERGUSON, J os. FORREST 

